The Demon Wolf - Chapter 11：Breakfast

Red wakes up to the smell of something cooking. It’s most definitely meat, but it’s not anything she’s ever smelled before. Getting out of bed she’s surprised by the lack of cold, and is welcomed by the warm air. The muffled sounds of a radio playing music can be heard while the forest is alive with it’s own music of chirps. The occasional wood pecker can be heard digging into trees and Red gets dressed into a cozy long sleeve and slightly baggy pants.

Opening the blinds, rays of light shine on her she starts stretching. Looking out she sees there’s a dense mist blanketing the forest floor. The sunlight makes the mist glisten like gold. She starts losing track of time as she finds herself staring at the beauty. That soon turns to dread though as she backs away from the window, afraid she’ll see something staring back at her.

“Oh, you’re up already, good morning,” Jerard says from the kitchen as she steps out of her room, “I was just about to go knock. Were you able to sleep alright?”

“Yeah,” Red replies as she walks down the stairs. As she reaches the bottom of the stairs she sees a fire going in the chimney and can clearly hear the radio playing old fashioned music from the 1940’s. Jerard’s in the kitchen in a black and grey plaid shirt and dark blue jeans, picking something up from a pan. As Red walks to the kitchen he turns off the radio. Getting into the kitchen she sees what her dad’s been cooking, and it looks like normal beef.

“What is that?” Red asks staring at the meat that looks familiar but smells different.

“It’s deer. Ever have it before?”

“No,” She shakes her head, “How did you get it?” She asks looking up at him.

“I hunt deer, well, I only get one a month. Than I store all the meat in a freezer and take out what I need for that day or the next,”

“You kill deer?” She asks, looking at the food in concern.

” …Yeah, it helps reduce spending for food, and don’t worry Red, they don’t feel any pain,”

“How?” She looks back up at him.

“Well…I,” He scratches the back of his head, “Did Granny never tell you how you guys get beef and chicken and pork?”

“Granny says…said, that they grow in bushes, like fruit,”

“…um…” Jerard starts avoiding eye contact as he thinks of how to best say it, “I, use a rifle, and…shoot them. Between the eyes,” He tries to say it gently but it just comes out blunt, “And than they’re…dead. Farmers do the same thing to cows, pigs, and chicken, but with a special tool.”

“What?!” Red exclaims.

“God I screwed this up,” He says wiping his face with his face, “You don’t have to eat the deer if you want, you just have some eggs, and I have some fruit in the fridge. Just have a seat at the table and I’ll fix you a plate,”

“..Alright,” She says glancing at the meat in a new light, as she takes a seat at the wooden table. Jerard walks over to the fridge and opens it up.

“There’s apples, oranges, and strawberries,”

“Strawberries please,”

“How many eggs do you want?”

“Gotcha, sunny side up eggs and strawberries coming right up,” He pulls out a small plastic container of strawberries and walks over to a counter by the stove which already has a carton of eggs on it.

“You don’t mind a bit of butter on your eggs do you?”

“I love butter,”

He lights up a burner and places a small pan on it. After buttering the pan he cracks two eggs into it. After dumping the shells he rinses his hands and pulls out a small wood cutting board from a drawer.

He takes a small cutting knife from a knife block and grabs some strawberries as the eggs start to sizzle. He starts to quickly chop away at the berries.

“Ah fuck!” He exclaims, flicking his left hand in the air suddenly. He quickly turns around to Red, “Don’t ever say that word,” He states, “It’s a bad word,”

“O-okay,” Red replies putting a hand over her mouth to try and conceal her obvious laughter. Jerard can’t help but chuckle a bit too as he turns back to the board, sucking on the fresh cut on his finger. He lightly rinses his hands before scooping the slices of strawberries onto a plate and flipping over the eggs. He brings the plate and a fork over to her.

“You want salt on your eggs?”

“Just a bit,”

He goes back to the stove and lightly pours some salt.

“Randy called this morning, he said the funeral for Granny will be in a week,” He says as he checks the eggs, “He also said I’d have the next two weeks off, to help you get settled in here,” Red notices how casually he talked about the funeral.

“Dad?” She asks as she fondles with a strawberry slice, Jerard turning off the stove.

“Yeah?” He replies as he walks over and bends down a bit as he scoops the eggs onto her plate.

“How come…you and Granny, didn’t get along?” He doesn’t respond at all as he straightens back up.

“…We, had our differences…” He says quietly as he puts the pan onto the stove. He puts the steaks onto his plate, grabs himself a fork and steak knife, and sits down at the table, staring intently at his plate as he eats quietly. Red keeps to herself as she eats, feeling bad for bringing up something clearly sensitive to him. As they’re eating she notices that the cut on his finger is a somewhat deep wound.

“…Do you have any band aids, to put on your cut?”

“Hm?” He looks up from his plate, snapping out of his thoughts.

“Your cut looks a bit serious, it might get infected if you don’t cover it,” He holds up his hand, examining the wound.

“It’s not that serious, I already washed it, so you have nothing to worry about,” He says with a light smile, trying to shake away the awkward air. As Red is taking her second to last bite she sees her dad already taking the last bite of the second steak. He patiently waits for her to finish the last bite of her food before taking the dishes and putting them in the sink.

“Would you like to help me with some work in the garden? Turns out I don’t have the parts to fix the truck so I called for a repairman to come by and fix it,”

“Sure, let me go get my jacket first,” And with that she heads upstairs to her room to get her jacket. As she passes by the window to get her jacket she sees something move in the corner of her eye. Quickly scanning the forest below, she doesn’t see anything. She quickly puts on her jacket and heads out back downstairs.